World No. 1s Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams open play Monday in the first round at Wimbledon. Djokovic, the defending champion, starts off against the very dangerous Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Djokovic leads the German 6-1, but Kohlschreiber is the highest ranked unseeded player at No. 33.

“Hopefully tomorrow when I get on the court I’ll be able to perform my best because that’s something that is going to be very much needed in order to win against Kohlschreiber,” Djokovic said. “It’s one of the toughest first rounds I could get.”

Also in the men’s draw, French Open Stan Wawrinka is in action against Joao Sousa. Former champion Lleyton Hewitt opens his Wimbledon swansong against Jarkko Nieminen.

US Open champion Marin Cilic is also on court as is his victim in New York, Kei Nishikori.

2014 semifinalist Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov start on their road to a fourth round collision.

Nicky Kyrgios, Hyeon Chung and Alexander Zverev are some of the youngsters on court. 37-year-old Tommy Haas returns as well.

No. 8 seed David Ferrer announced his withdrawal due to an elbow injury. The Spaniard had played 50 straight Grand Slam events. His spot will be taken by Luca Vanni. Ferrer was seeded to meet Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.

In the women’s draw, 5-time champion Serena Williams begins her quest to win another “Serena Slam”. She’ll meet little-known Russian Margarita Gasparyan. Last time we saw the American star play at Wimbledon she could barely stand up. Now there’s history.

“I think the fact that I lost so early the past couple years definitely makes me motivated,” Serena said. “But I think that also gives me a little less pressure because I haven’t done well here in the past two years. It makes me feel like, Okay, I’ll be fine. I have nothing to lose here. I don’t have many points to defend here. So it’s just like trying to have fun, go through it.”

69 Comments for World No. 1s Serena Williams And Novak Djokovic Open Play At Wimbledon Monday

jatin Says:

I don’t know guys. But I have a bad vibe about the Djokovic match. This could very well be the biggest upset of the year.
Philipp Kohlschreiber is a very very difficult opponent to play with. He nearly won against roger in halle. And could potentially score against Novak.
Novak is totally out of sorts on grass right now. He lost to some 17 year old guy in the warm up tournament some days ago with a scoreline of 6-4,6-3.
Plus, his confidence is on lower side after the heartbreaking french open loss.
This is the worst first round match anyone could get.
Novak is a big champion and very match capable of raising him game when he need them the most. But he is a usually a tad bit rusty in first rounds of the open and I think Kohlschreiber is very much aware of that.

Lets see how Novak manage the pressure and rustiness. Its sure is a match of the day or perhaps tournament.
Though it sounds ridiculous to some but I am going with 4 sets Philipp Kohlschreiber win.

@jatin
Nole may not win in straights, but he’ll pull through. He won’t pull a “Rafa” first rd fiasco. He’s the worlds #1 in his prime for goodness sake!
—-
With Ferrer withdrawing it looks like lady luck is with the Beast, and he needs it. If he gets into the second week, and with this draw he may very well do that, he may do his “nearly impossible” and “always difficult” maneuver……. like win.

Novak will be fine,i said it the other day,its an interesting match up for a first round,but best of five,even if he starts off slowly he should come through all barring Phil.K playing the match of his life and performing a miracle,if anything i think the player who would be looking at the first round and losing sleep would be Phil rather than Novak,especially given it was 6 years ago since his last win….

And, by the way, what a crap move by Ferrer to wait until the schedule came out before bailing. Lost a lot of respect for him. Wanted to help out his buddy Nadal instead of playing fair.

I was wrong the other day when I posted what would happen with the draw if a seed pulled out before the schedule came out. Isner, the 17 seed, would have moved into Ferrer’s spot, while Kohlschreiber would have replaced Isner and had an excellent shot to reach the fourth round on his best surface.

Djokovic playing lights out.
Another example why warm tournaments prove nothing. He was looking so rusty against alexender and Philip was looking really good.
Kind of tells what a great champion djokovic really is. He didn’t needed any warm up or anything to get used to grass courts. It seems like he is continuing where he left off last year ( against fed)
Lets see how Philip respond in the 3rd set. He had his chances in the first set.

Well done to Nole – he didn’t need the extra set that I thought he might – Phillipp played well but Nole raised his game when he had to – in retrospect this match could benefit Nole – it gave him a real game as opposed to practice.

The only thing I want ( apart from fed’s win ofcourse) is to see Hewitt win some matches and goes deep in his last Wimbledon.
I have always admired his game. He was so awesome when he was in his prime.
Comon Hewitt.

yes a few rounds for Hewitt would be a good way for him to say farewell. His spirit was immense a true champion to the bone. Killed as all time great as course of TMF.
the irony of course is that without Federer he would have won 4/5 slams easy. And not only slams won by TMF himself!
Champion with a big C.

Jeez: are you kidding? He won each of those sets by a break in the last game of the set – that’s nothing to shake a stick at. Apparently, had Ferrer pulled out 12 hours earlier than he did, Kohlschreiber would have been seeded, and he does have a grass court title in his career (Halle 2011).

I watched the match, and Djokovic did not look sharp until he really needed to be. That can be a good sign or a bad one, depending on whether the first part recurrs in subsequent matches. He might actually have an easier opponent in the 2nd or 3rd round than he did in the first, so it could be enough (as long as whoever he plays doesn’t come out of his socks) but on the face of how he played today, he doesn’t look great.

i was quite please that novak came to net 28 times and won 20 of those points for 71%. what he needs to do is cut down on errors. his first serve was generally strong and he won 57% on second serves which is good, though not great.

kind of thought leyton would make it past jarko, but i guess novak will play neminen instead for the second slam in a row. he’s got that tricky lefty serve.

of the young aussies, nick kyrgios was by far the most impressive with a bagel. 4-K is out and tomic took 5 sets to win, but he did get the W.

cilic and isner through in straights. raonic through too though he dropped a set.

Phew, now perhaps the extreme over-hyping of Kohlschreiber can stop for a good long while (the_mind_reels gave a good summation of why there was never anything more than some vague distant memory of him winning Halle to fear) and maybe even the secret draw conspiracy talk. As expected, Djokovic wins in straights.

BTW, for Djokovic fans, he is a clue in this week’s New York Times Magazine crossword puzzle.

interesting piece on the single-handed backhand… suggests it’s on the way out, which seems somewhat contradicted by stan’s recent success or by some of the younger players who use it, but feel free to read on :)

m – perhaps, but i found that article a more in-depth approach to the question, or perhaps i missed some of the other ones in the past. anyhow, just thought i would share it, especially for those who play.

jane: It’s an interesting article – he basicaly argues that the professional game has too much power and pace for a good 1-handed backhand, but you can produce more of each with the 1-handed backhand. Also, the professional game is not when the stroke is learned. You have to go to the juniors and earlier to understand why that choice is made.

He also discounts the technical advantages of the 1-handed backhand, and fails to analyze why 1-handers are over represented in the top 100. I believe that unless you’re extremely talented (which most players are not), you will choose the 2-hander as a junior in order to get better results earlier, and that’s because there’s more money in the game earlier.

He’s also very harsh on Nadal, which I don’t agree with – Nadal has a formula to his success, but it is hardly a “demented robotic extreme”. That may have been tinged with some personal bias (after all, he did write a book called “Federer and Me: a Story of Obsession”) Personally, I think Nadal is exceptionally talented (given that he’s won 14 majors with is weak hand) and does things that few players can repeat with their strong hand.

I do agree that the demise of the 1-handed backhand is not at hand – not only because being different can get you exceptional results, but because ultimately talent tells in tennis, and some percentage of the most talented kids will always learn the 1-handed backhand because of the benefits. They will also have earlier success because of their talent, even if their technique isn’t where it needs to be from the beginning.

thanks MMT, will look at your columns. and yes; i noticed the disdain for rafa in his tone and the connotations of his word choice. i’ve seen rafa hit a backhand winner from sitting position; that takes talent and reflex. i also don’t agree with his assessment that somehow stan’s backhand was the reason for this roland garros win. in fact he hit his forehand exceptionally well, including in the fed match, and he raised his first serve % by 10% in the finals. plus novak was too tentative. lots contributes to wins/losses, not just one type of shot.

MMT,
Very well written pieces, thank you for providing such fantastic tennis tech, really enjoyed it. Would only add that the contact point for the SHBH is further in front on the average vs. the 2 hander and the FH side for that matter. That is one of its unique requirements when hitting with power.
Your concept of hitting options is spot on, and on the rise is by far the best solution. I thought the SHBH has improved through this era though, and no one can say now that a 2 hander has more power than a one hander. Just ask Stan the Man.

Poor Kohlschreiber. Great guy but the Draw Gods sure have punished him this year. Tomic 2nd round AO. Murray 2nd round Madrid. Federer 1st round at Aegon Halle, which he almost won. Then Nole 1st Round at Wimbledon.
Give Phillipp a break!!
He goes over to tell Nole they play 1st while they were over at Boodles..check out the reaction. The Djoker is still the Djoker behind the scenes and goofy. The picture all but invites a photoshopper to replace Phillipp’s head with a fetching gal tennis star.

I do think Kohlschreiber got a rough patch of luck (though not Djokovic who actually benefited from a challenging but not truly threatening opponent early on), but of course the only answer is to raise his ranking to get better early draws. Then again, he is another one who has already crossed the line of 30, but 30 is the new 20 in tennis these days!

Obviously the lack of match practice was showing in Novak’s game and yet surprisingly he cruised through in straight sets although the easy score line betrays the competitiveness of the match. Novak took full advantage of Kohlschrieber’s double faults at crucial junctures in the match and he knows the class of his opponent to take him very lightly. So, at the moment it appears that Novak is keenly poised to successfully defend his title at the Premier Lawn of Tennis. I think he definitely needs it to compensate his morale shattering loss at Rolland Garros which sagged his spirit.

As far Kohlschrieber, one of the players who has tremendous potential but very little to show in terms of record and is a rather unlucky player in my opinion. He has missed quite a lot of close matches in his career but he still continues his pursuit for excellence. That shows the tenacity and determination of a player despite all the road blocks he is confronted with !!

Ofcourse. Who knows ? The Tennis world might see a new Wimbledon Champion as we saw recently at Rolland Garros. That is what makes this Sport the spectacle it is braced with uncertainity. However, right now you cannot deny that Novak is the favourite though I would not go far to say it is overwhelming. For me, Andy appears on the top with Novak not much behind !!

Hmmm yes, reminded me little bit too much of what we hoped had been moved on from
Ahem
Or maybe he should try a mental insitution instead of a psychiatrist to truly understand his demons
lol (it will be fine I’m sure)
Onwards and upwards.
And it was a cauldron out there
A good test even!

Forecast is great so far, pretty warm with this extra week. 40% rain only expected on Wednesday, day of Quarterfinals. Hope this Wimby goes rain free, hate when their is schedule issues and match postponed.

@Daniel
He was serving very well at Queens, so here’s hoping. I think he finds first round matches nerve wracking.
Dunno about shrink, have heard he works for Steve Peters. Last I heard it was someone from “Chimp Management.” Lol, Andy knows how to keep his fans on their toes.
Very sad with Halep. What is up with her? She was nursing an injury I believe.

Yes Margot, hope he improves on that. The other parts of his game was excellent, love how he uses variety on grass, a few slices and suddenly a missile BH flat. The thing with grass is when you hit a great return is almost impossible to get back.